Description

Cryptical Envelopment > drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment > space > New Potato Caboose, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Doin' That Rag Dark Star, Lovelight > drums

Notes

COMMENTS Pigpen plays harp on Dupree's. The Avalon Ballroom insisted that bands, including the Dead, play short sets of an hour or less. This may well be the complete first set.

Notes: The length of all these sets supports the short set restriction by the Avalon.

Lovelight fades in.

* Announcement made at the start of disc two indicating the Dead leaving the stage, Sons of Champlin being introduced and that the Dead will be back for another set.

(Extraction and.shn encoding by Seth Kaplan (Sdk022769@aol.com) via EAC and MKW. Accurate extraction and properly aligned sector boundaries verified via EAC and .shntool. Various digital and master reel flaws cleaned up via Cool Edit 2000)

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Reviewer: mellowmymind5453 - - March 13, 2013
Subject: Mind-Bending New Potato Caboose
This show's New Potato Caboose is sick! Phil's solo is earth-shaking and extremely extended. Wow, wish I could've seen that one live.
Everything else is pretty normal, which of course means EXCEPTIONAL for 1969 Dead. Love the music from this era, warts and all, they just played with so much fire and energy. After all, LIVE/DEAD was got me onto the bus in the first place!

Reviewer: bluestones - - March 3, 2013
Subject: Greatest New Potato Caboose Ever
The rest of this show is meh compared to the other Avalon shows but the New Potato Caboose is amazing! My favorite version! How thunderous Phil sounds in his solo! What beautiful symphonic chapters Garcia writes as he picks and bends. Finally, after 8 years a New Potato I can call my favorite. Wow! I've listened to this show off and on for the last couple of years but didn't realize just how great this version was until now. Five stars just for that.

Honorable mention to Dupree's with the harp playing. Reminds me of Sonny Terry.

Reviewer: njpg - - January 25, 2013
Subject: Very good show,
stream-only, no track info.

Reviewer: clementinescaboose - - November 26, 2011
Subject: OK show
There are some nice bits here, but the other two January Avalon nights (the 25th in particular) are much better, and this mix starts off pretty unlistenable.

An interesting, rather mellow Dark Star where they explore some new territory I found to be the most enjoyable part.

Reviewer: williscat2000 - - December 23, 2005
Subject: very enjoyable
great show, as are most. It seems most shows from 68 and early 69 are all great, just some are epic compared to others. This certainly was an enjoyable listen, next up 1/25/69. Sound quality is standard decent SBD, and playing is mmmm spectacular.

Reviewer: williscat2000 - - December 23, 2005
Subject: very enjoyable
great show, as are most. It seems most shows from 68 and early 69 are all great, just some are epic compared to others. This certainly was an enjoyable listen, next up 1/25/69. Sound quality is standard decent SBD, and playing is mmmm spectacular.

Reviewer: capn doubledose - - December 16, 2005
Subject: Whats the problem - This is great
Does not blow the roof off like some of the others but this is fine listening + remember people we are critiquing 1969 in many ways their best year. New Potato, DS & Lovelight are exceptional.

Reviewer: macfawlty - - October 17, 2005
Subject: Great sound and decent show altogether
I like the long CE after a strong Other One. New Potato is a mostly jammy version without as much vocals. I nice DTR with jammin' at the end. DS is real good in parts, but meanders a bit. Lovelight cuts in sort of in the middle?

Reviewer: DeadDave - - March 28, 2005
Subject: First ever 16 track!!!!
These late Jan. '69 Avalon shows are mentioned in the book "A long strange trip" as the first ever (in the world) 16 track live recordings. The audio problems that result are predictable and are fixed pretty quickly. The playing however is simply outstanding on all 3 shows.

These were done for the album "Live Dead".

Reviewer: phleshy - - March 26, 2005
Subject: Gas the Avalon!!!
The sound quality is excellent on this show; all the instruments and vocals are clear and well-placed. Maybe this show was recorded for consideration as Live/Dead. Well, I'm glad that this Dark Star wasn't considered; 2/27/69 is head and shoulders above it. Still, this is an interesting show because of the Lovelight and the intentional power failure. Maybe it was incidents like this that inspired the "Burn down the Fillmore, gas the Avalon" lyric in Alligator.

Reviewer: oxthom - - July 1, 2004
Subject: First ever...
Doin' That Rag & Dupree's Diamond Blues

Reviewer: ZephyrMontego - - May 18, 2004
Subject: Check out the New Potato Caboose
This show has a truly fantastic New Potato Caboose. Phil plays great lead after the (somewhat lame) verses and Jerry then responds with some amazing jamming.

It also has something I've never heard before: a false start going into the 2nd verse of Dark Star. If not for a broken string this might have been the first 20 minute Dark Star; as it is it runs 19:45.

The show ends on a down note as managment pulls the power plug halfway through Lovelight. Mickey and Billy stir things up a bit by continuing to play, but what's a rock band gonna do without juice?